Add the mince and fry until brown and any remaining fat has pooled clear in the bottom of the pan. Pour off excess fat if required.

Peel and dice the carrot into pieces no larger than 1 cm square, add to the meat mixture with the peas. Stir fry until the peas are bright and glossy.

Put mixture on Low - Med heat, add the herbs and mix well through the meat mixture.

Add the flour one spoon at a time and mix through the meat until it is well coated. The meat should not form a "dough" and if the mixture is becoming too thick to stir stop adding flour.

Add the stock and the tomato puree, if desired replace half a cup of stock with red wine to taste. Cook until a thick gravy is formed, if desired add more water and simmer off to stew the meat.

Cooking the mash

This can be done in parallel with the filling being cooked or just before the pie is put in the oven.

Peel the potatoes and cut into 2cm cubes

Boil in a saucepan covered with at least an inch of hot water

Boil until a fork goes easily into the pototoes

Drain the hot water and mash with a potato masher.

Add the butter and mix through, then add the milk and mix again.

Lastly add the chives and mix through.

Preparing the Pie

Preheat the oven to 175 celsius.

Place the filling in a 8 by 16 inch pan, this recipe should form about an inch deep filling. Pyrex or ceramic containers are best for pies without a pastry base.

Spread the mashed potato across the top of the pie dish over the filling. To achieve crispy potato topping score the potato with a fork to form ridges.

Place the pie in the oven. If you have prepared the mash and filling immediately 10 minutes should suffice to brown the pie top. If you have prepared your pie dish earlier the day before is often best to let the water settle out of the meat) then cook for 35 minutes.

Pull the pie out of the oven and sprinkle the pie top with the cheese, place back in the oven for 5 minutes to brown.